


Claustrophobia

by stories11



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 04:52:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stories11/pseuds/stories11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A ficlet about why Peter Walter VI is afraid of doors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Claustrophobia

Peter VI had always been a curious child, it seemed like he was always running, always active, always exploring somewhere new.

It wasn't until he was 10 years old he got up the courage to explore the basement. All of the bots had warned him at one point or another not to go down there, that it was dangerous. Up until today, he had listened to them, and stayed away, but with the bots gone, and no one around to tell him otherwise, there was nothing to stop him.

He grabs a flashlight from a drawer in the kitchen. He knew the bots would be home before too long, but that didn't stop him from going down into the basement. He turns on the flashlight, and holds it out in front of him like a weapon as he carefully descends the stairs, shining the beam of light on everything. Even with the darkness it didn't seem so scary, and he wonders why the bots had told him not to come down here. Boxes of Crystal Pepsi, both empty and full, litter the floor, tripping him on occasion.

Peter looks around for a few minutes, but quickly becomes bored, he prepares to go back upstairs when his flashlight catches a dark hallway he hadn't explored yet.

Intrigued, he walks towards it, trying to get a better look. The hallway is full of doorways, each door made of thick, heavy metal, only one door is closed, and when he pulls on it, it doesn't budge. All of the rooms are small and empty, as he walks down the hall, investigating without entering, until he comes to the last one.

He looks in, taking a deep breath before entering the room to get a better look. He accidentally bumps the keypad on the wall next to him as he enters, and with a hiss, the door begins to swing shut. In his surprise, he drops his flashlight, and it rolls away and out of the room, leaving him trapped in the dark as the door shut with a definitive click. Peter pulls at the door, beating on it as hard as he can, crying and screaming for anyone to help, but to no avail. No one cold hear him, and no one could see him, he was alone in the dark. He curls into a ball in the corner, terrified and crying, hoping they would find him soon.

The bots returned from the store an hour later, having taken longer than expected. The Spine was surprised that Peter wasn't there to greet them as usual, but marked it down to the boy being restless, after all, he had said they'd only be gone for a few minutes. The bot assumed that Peter had gotten bored and wandered away to find something more entertaining to do.

After an hour passed with no sign of him, The Spine began to get worried, he checked all of Peter's usual hiding places but he was no where, anger hour had passed as he searched, before stopping in front of Peter's room. He knocked softly on the door, before saying, "You in there Peter? We've been home for a couple hours now and we haven't heard from you.... We're starting to get worried, are you okay?" He waited for a response but was only met with silence. "Peter?" He calls out a little louder, "If you don't answer I'm coming in." Still getting no response he opens the door, only to find an empty room.

Rabbit, have you head from Peter?

Which one?

Six, I haven't seen him anywhere.

Not for a few hours. Do you think something's wrong?

I don't think we should start panicking just yet. I'm gonna look for him.

You want some help?

No, just keep an eye out, let me know if you hear from him, okay?

Okay Spine

The silver bot walks the halls, searching methodically for the seemingly missing boy. Another hour passes before he finds the open door to the basement, he gives a small groan of frustration, and he grabs a flashlight from the kitchen, taking note of the missing one. He goes down the steps, and looks around, "Peter? If you stop hiding I promise I won't be mad, just come back upstairs, we're worried about you." He receives no response, but continues to look around the basement, checking behind stacks of boxes and crates hoping to find him hiding like it was a game.

He turns around preparing to go upstairs and bypass the hallway completely, but he stops when he hears the ghost of a sob echo down the hospital. "Peter?" He calls down the hall way in concern. He begins to work his way down the hall systematically searching each small room as he goes. He nearly trips over the burnt out flashlight on the floor, not seeing it in the dark. He looks down the hall a short ways and sees that the last door is closed when it shouldn't be. He takes swift strides to get to it, knocking on the vault door to get Peter's attention if he's in there, "Peter, are you in there?" He asks, hoping he's wrong.

A few seconds pass before he hears a quiet reply, "Yes...."

The Spine bites his lip to stop himself from cursing loudly. The thought of Peter being trapped in one of the vaults was awful. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay..." The small voice breaches the vault again.

The Spine strains to hear it, and is thankful that he came down to investigate and not one of the humans, who would have no hope of hearing him. He breathes a small sigh of relief, and speaks again. "I'm glad you're okay, I'm gonna call Rabbit now, and we're gonna get you out of there."

Rabbit, what's the pass code for vault 16?

I dunno... I think the default's 1896... Why?

The Spine ignores Rabbit's question, punching in the numbers quickly. The Spine listened carefully, satisfied when he hears the hiss of the door unlocking, and pulls it open swiftly.

Peter scrambles into the automatons waiting arms, wrapping his arms around the bot's neck, crying and blubbering, "I'm sorry, Mr.Spine, I'm sorry!"

The Spine hugs him tightly and lifts him with ease. "It's alright, Peter. It's okay." He murmurs softly to the boy, attempting to calm his tears. He mounts the stairs carefully, before softly asking, "Peter.... How long have you been down here?"

"I dunno.... " He responds softly. "It felt like a real long time. I went down there right after you left, but then I got trapped, and I was so scared." He cries into The Spine's shoulder.

The Ine does a quick calculation of the time that had passed since they had left.

Four hours. Peter had been trapped in that vault for nearly four hours.

"It's okay Peter, no one's mad at you, no one's upset with you. We were just worried about you, now let's go see Rabbit." Rabbit had always been the best when it came to cheering up the young ones. Peter nods into his shoulder, silent and no longer visibly shaking, thankful just to be out of that room, The Spine takes it as a good sign.

Rabbit, where are you? I found Peter, he wants to see you.

Living Room 3... Is he okay? You said something about the vaults earlier, I've been worried.

He's okay, just a bit shaken up. He went down to the basement, and found the vaults, he accidentally locked himself in one.

How long was he down there?

A couple hours at least, we're almost there. Don't mention it to him though, he's finally calming down.

Rabbit sits down on the couch, waiting nervously for Spine to come. He jumps to his feet when The Spine and Peter enter the room, he runs over and ruffles a hand in Peter's hair. "Hey Petes, how ya doin'?" He asks enthusiastically.

Peter can't help but smile, as The Spine carefully passes him to Rabbit. Rabbit takes him carefully, cradling him in a mock princess carry. "You had us worried there for a little while. Glad you're okay."

Peter just grabs tightly to Rabbit's jacket, holding himself as close to the bot as possible. Rabbit holds the boy closer and sits, nodding to The Spine, telling him it was all okay, that he had it under control. The Spine nods back, leaving the boy to Rabbit.

Rabbit sat telling Peter stories for hours until the night rolled around. The boy yawns quietly and the copper bot smiles at him, lifting him up to carry him to bed. He lays Peter down in his bed, pressing a kiss to his forehead before exiting, he was about to close the door when Peter whimpered. He looks back in alarm, "Is someone wrong, Peter?" He asks worriedly.

Peter stares at the door fearfully.

Rabbit takes a moment to understand, then realized the door is the problem. Without exerting any real effort he pulls the door off its hinges and sets it in the hall, "Better?" He asks softly. Peter nods slightly, and Rabbit leaves him to sleep.


End file.
